Abbey Road Red in Europe

Abbey Road Red in Europe

22nd June 2017

Two weeks, three festivals, two panels, 3000 miles, 55 start-up pitches

For the past two weeks Abbey Road Red Innovation Manager, Jon Eades has been on a mini music tech tour of Europe, speaking on panels and mentoring start-ups at Primavera Pro in Barcelona, Midem in Cannes and Sonar +D back in Barcelona. Here is his quick rundown of all three events.

In an era of virtual reality, live streaming, 360 media and the like, travelling on old fashioned things like airplanes and taxis to events to discuss the arrival of virtual reality, AI and the like can seem more than a little ironic.

And while a lot of the content from Primavera, Midem and Sonar can now be watched online, and the people involved reached via your messaging platform of choice, there is something still very unique, and very valuable, about attending this type of event in person.

They provide an opportunity for people working in disparate locations around to globe to convene to exchange knowledge and inspire new ideas for future development.

The presence, immediacy and immersion results in unexpected results that are difficult to recreate online.

For us, attending these events is essential for keeping on top of the evolution in the music technology landscape as it continues to develop.

PRIMAVERA PRO

A one day conference on the first day of Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Primavera Pro brings together people from across the European & Spanish music industry for talks, panels, networking sessions and start-up pitches. Congratulations to Red graduates Uberchord on winning the competition. Nothing to do with me being on the judging panel of course ;)

MIDEM

Now in its 50th year, Midem has long held court as one of the premier music business conferences in Europe.

Traditionally a place for labels, publishers and distributors to meet, Midem has evolved to include more technology and innovation. This includes the addition of the MidemLab start-up competition, a prestigious competition whose alumi includes SoundCloud, The Echo Nest, Kickstarter and SongKick, now in its 10th year

Our Head of Brand & Marketing, Mark Robertson, and I were invited to provide pitch coaching to the 20 start-ups pitching in the Midemlab.

This year’s winners were SoundCharts, TrueLinked, HumOn and Vinci Smart Headphones.

Read a full write up by MusicAlly here.

SONAR+D

Launched just five years ago as a parallel event to Sonar music festival in Barcelona, Sonar +D fuses music, technology and business with a strong focus on all things early stage and emerging

Talks and panels covered topics from recent headline trends such as blockchain, machine learning and VR.

The proximity to the main music festival creates a unique energy at +D, and attracts a high calibre mixture of investors, musicians, academics, entrepreneurs and others.

I had the pleasure of mentoring some of the companies pitching in the start-up competition and taking part in a panel with John Aquaviva from Plus 8 Equity and Kalam Ali from Native Instruments.

Check out the results of the start-up competition here.